... unreasonable, provoked by an object or situation; exposure to this object/situation immediately produces anxiety, and avoidance of this fear interferes with the sufferer's life. It defines five types of specific phobia: animal, natural environment (heights, storms, water), blood-injection, situational (flying, driving, lifts), and other (choking, vomiting, sound), as well as social phobia and agoraphobia. The former, specific phobias differ in a number of ways, and of particular interest for this essay, in treatment success rates (Beck, 1985). Phobias and their treatments have been an area of interest for centuries; Freud's (1909) Little Hans and Watson and Rayner's (1920) Little Albert are two of the most cited examples. The latter case study was a nine-month old boy who showed no fear towards animals, but did to loud noises. Watson & Rayner (1920) would produce a loud noise whenever Albert touched a rat. Albert showed a fear response to the noise, ...

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